A Magical Feast begins when guests receive calligraphed invitations embossed with sealing wax in the mail. Inside, the event’s secret Louisville location is revealed. Attendees take a short personality quiz beforehand to determine which of four magical teams (and tables) they will join during the festivities.
From the moment we arrived at A Magical Feast, all involved happily suspended their disbelief. Among the 14 guests were many in magic-related costumes, lending a touch of cosplay to the meal.
“I like adding elements of surprise: suspended candles, eerie music, books on magic, the aromas and other little touches,” says Melody Hu, who co-founded Experimental Dinner Club in Louisville with Nicole Alexander.
“We were new neighbors in Louisville,” Hu says. “We discovered we had both moved here from the San Francisco area and we each have two kids.”
In her everyday universe, Alexander works as a labor and delivery nurse at a hospital. Hu owns Sweet Diplomacy, a gluten-free catering service and bakery in Louisville, where she also teaches culinary workshops.
One night over dinner at a restaurant, the duo played a game of what if, Alexander says: “What if we combined performance and food — two things that we both loved — into an experience for guests?”
Both were inspired by the worlds of magical fiction and cinema involving sorcerers, curses, dark arts, potions and spells. According to Hu, cooking has been a magical act since our ancestors tasted a fire-singed appetizer, and chefs have often been regarded as alchemists.
“I pick up my CSA box from MASA Farm and pick flowers and herbs from my own garden the morning of the events,” she says. “It all gets transformed into a feast.”
The two friends launched the business this year with a monthly series of themed dinners featuring the close-up illusions of veteran Denver magician Shawn Preston. Neither had ever participated or even encountered the kind of immersive culinary performances they are now presenting.
A Magical Feast commences with a fun, interactive potion-making session. A tray of lab beakers, lab equipment, mismatched gold-rimmed glasses, dry ice and things that fizz and pop arrive at each table. There are vials of mysterious liquids (including zero proof gin) for each person to craft their own mocktail.
These events are alcohol-free; kombucha and a warm elixir of elderberry and ginger were among the many liquid offerings. The culinary courses this evening included a multi-hued salad with edible flowers, spring rolls served with preserved eggs, a creamy soup crafted from 10 fresh mushroom varieties, a 14-spice vegetable curry over black forbidden rice, and seared scallops with sweet potato and fish roe. Dessert featured chocolate frogs and meringue mushrooms served with coffee or tea.
Courtesy: Experimental Dinner Club
A Magical Feast is definitely not dinner theater — a meal served by actors followed by a performance. Rather, it’s a show from start to finish, with tricks between courses and a mind-blowing magic tour de force finale during dessert.
Here, the wizard isn’t behind a curtain. Preston captivates with mentalism, classic card tricks and sleight-of-hand melded with legit, engaging stand-up comedy.
“Shawn is pretty incredible,” Hu says. “It’s close-up magic performed right in front of you. I still don’t know how he does it.”
One couple at A Magical Feast was attending their second event; the first was Alice in Wonderland themed. They brought along friends, they said, because it was “so much more fun than going out for a fancy restaurant meal.” One group celebrated a birthday with a sparkly cake that emerged during the dessert course.
The Experimental Dinner Club has scheduled A Magical Feast performances in September, October and November. The themes and menus will change during the coming year, according to Hu.
“As a chef, I’m really proud to create an interactive entertainment experience that involves truly healthy farm-to-table food,” she says. “It’s such a great way to share a love for food.”
ON THE BILL: 6 p.m. Sept. 27, $156. Tickets at bit.ly/magicalfeastBW. Discover more local restaurants at boulderweekly.com/food